This invention relates to croquet game apparatus, and more particularly to a "deadness" board which can be controlled remotely by the players, for use in croquet.
In the game of croquet, when played correctly according to the rules, a player is said to become "dead" on a particular color when his ball strikes another player's ball of that color. It remains in this status until the player hits his ball through the next wicket. The status of being dead on one or more colors restricts the player in that he may not again strike the ball of that color, on penalty of ending his turn, until his ball has passed through the next wicket. At that point, he is no longer dead on any color. While a player is dead on a color, the player of that color may use the "dead" player's ball as a stepping stone to continue his turn, without fear of the "dead" player's doing the same to his ball.
It is therefore important in croquet that the status of all players' balls as being dead or alive with respect to each of the other three colors must be either remembered, kept by a scorekeeper type person, or displayed for constant reference of all the players.
For this purpose, a deadness board has conventionally been included adjacent to a field of serious croquet. The deadness board would typically include twelve flaps in the four colors of the game. Adjacent to a color marker for each player is a series of three flaps, in each of the other players' colors. Each flap is pivoted or hinged so that either the front side or the back side can be displayed, indicating dead or not dead for that ball color with respect to a particular player. In this way, status of each player with respect to each of the other players' ball colors can be kept and displayed.
However, such conventional manual deadboards are not particularly convenient, because either a player or a scorekeeper is required to adjust the status of the twelve deadness color indicators nearly every time a ball is struck or a ball is put through a wicket. This greatly slows down the game, often leads to inaccuracies and disputes, and otherwise detracts from the enjoyment of the game.
It is a principal object of the invention to improve on previous croquet deadness display apparatus by providing for remote control of the display of each player's dead or alive status for each other player's color, controllable by the players in the game. The system of the present invention greatly speeds up the game, results in fewer inaccuracies or disputes and greatly adds to the enjoyment of players and spectators.